2006 Year in Review: Sports

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Our look back at the sporting year.

By Jon Robinson

2006 was a year of questions (did Bonds use steroids? Should McGwire make the Hall of Fame? Is T.O. crazy?), but at least it ended with an answer. The Answer, Allen Iverson stole the show late with all of the trade talk before finally being dealt to the Nuggets (Melo, J.R. Smith, A.I., Camby, and Nene&#Array;how can you not watch this team?), who will be at full strength in about 15 games after the rumble in the Garden against the Knicks (where was Spike Lee in all of this?). Inexplicably, Isiah Thomas avoided suspension from the fight, but Knick fans can still wish for the former Bad Boy's pink slip as their holiday stocking stuffer.

State of SportsControversy Creates Cash. That's the title of Eric Bischoff's new book, and it's a perfect way to describe the 2006 sports year. A year known for a headbutt (no matter what someone says about your sister, you can't blow the World Cup!), continuing steroid scandal (will Bonds just retire already!), an "accidental overdose", and the Bengals vying to have as many players arrested as wins.

Matt Millen is still employed. So is Isiah Thomas. If that doesn't tell you a little something about the state of sports in 2006, I don't know what does.

The Dallas Cowboys are a team of controversy, with T.O. spitting in D-Hall's face only the latest in a string of sleeping in meetings, taking too many pills, and blaming a "snitch" for all of his problems.

If only A-Rod had a snitch to blame his slumping numbers on. Instead, A-Rod's metamorphosis to A-Fraud is almost complete. Unfortunately for New York, even their loudest outrages and objections didn't get the most hated man in pinstripes booted out of town.

But all is not lost, negative, or controversial in the world of sports. There is still plenty left to cheer. Plenty left to inspire.

There was Jason McElwain, an autistic manager of his high school basketball team who got in his team's final home game and nailed six three-pointers then was mobbed on the court like he won the NBA Finals.

The Saints returned to New Orleans to provide a boost of morale to the still struggling city, and they returned with the Coach of the Year, the most exciting rookie, and a quarterback playing the season of his life.

The NBA playoffs were the most exciting in years as LeBron, D-Wade, Dirk, Kobe, and even the Clippers left us with a feeling we haven't felt since the days of MJ and Magic.

There was the fumble that could've, should've, and would've been Jerome Bettis' last carry if not for the heads-up tackle of his quarterback. The Colts miss the field goal, the Steelers end up winning the Super Bowl, but it's that fumble (and tackle) that live on in our memories.

George Mason shocked the world (and everyone in Connecticut) by upsetting the highly-favored Huskies and stepping foot in the glass slipper as this year's Cinderella team in the Final Four.

The Dodgers were down 9-5 in the bottom of the ninth but rallied to tie, then Nomar stepped up in the 10th to deliver the most memorable home run of the season, and the most improbable comeback.

The Olympics were taken hostage by a Flying Tomato known as Shaun White; a red-headed teenager, landed not one but two 1080s, and easily became the most recognizable figure from the 06 Games.

Kobe Bryant went Boomshackalacka! on the Raptors, dropping 81 in the highest scoring game this side of Wilt.

And Vince Young proved to be a player to be remembered, not only for his scintillating performance in the Rose Bowl to win Texas the national championship, but also as a quarterback in the NFL, leading his Titans on an improbable rally that finds them in the playoff hunt when everyone else was uttering the words "rebuilding year". The scramble, the arm, no wonder he's already one of the best players in Madden.

Andre Agassi bowed out like a champ, Floyd Landis went out like a chump, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer continued to show why they're the most dominant athletes of their era, and the NHL ushered in new blood with the names Crosby and Ovechkin who will try to be the LeBron and Melo of the ice, leading their sport back to the greatness that was the time of The Great One.

Those are the stories I'll remember most about 2006. A year of controversy, championships, and cheaters.